Stepladder



' L. BRILES Jan. 7 .1930.

STEPLADDER Filed Dec. 1928 Patented Jan. 7,1930

LARKIN BRILES, OFv CHICO, CALIFORNIA PATENT OFFICE STEPLADDER Application filed December 5,1928. Serial No. 323,806.

This invention relates to step-ladders, having reference more especially to high ladders of the kind adapted to be used in orchards.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and efiicient construction wherein the upper ends of the legs are jointed to the ladder by a transverse toggle connection in such a manner that said legs can be readily spread apart and swung away from the ladder so as to rest firmly and securely at spaced points upon the ground until the weight of the ladder is removed from the legs, which legs when the ladder is picked up swing together and against the ladder and remain in that position until they are again manually spread apart and pulled outward. When the legs are closed and fastened together, they can be swung outward and effectively used as a unitary supporting leg for the ladder,

if desired.

The invention embodies novel features of construction and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings- Figure 1 is a rear elevation of a ladder embodying my invention, showing the legs as closed and fastened together to provide a unitary support, and indicating in dotted lines the legs and toggle-joint connection in so the relative positions they occupy when the legs are spread and swung outward.

Fig. 2 is a similar view, enlarged, of the upper portion of the ladder, showing the legs and th joint connection in their relative positions w en the legs are spread and swung outward.

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section of i and platform 8.

9 designates two supporting legs which are jointed at their upper ends to the side bars, adjacent the platform, as follows: Each of the legs is provided at its upper end with a cross-bar 10'which is bolted to the leg, as at 11, and is braced by a diagonal tie iron 12 that is aflixed to the outer arm of the bar and to the leg, the bar thus being rigidly fixed toand forming apermanent part of the leg. The inner arms of the bars 10 of the respective legs are pivotally connected, midway between the sides of the ladder, by means of a rivet 13, for example, and the extremities of the outer arms are formed with pivot extensions 14 which are loosely mounted in perforations, in the rearwardly projecting lugs 15 of bracket irons 16 that are fixed to the respective sides of the ladder. The loose mounting of the pivot extensions permits a vertical rocking action of the ends of the tog- V gle members as well as a swinging motion of the latter. The pivot extensions preferably terminate in hook portions 17 which ensure their retention in the lugs 15 during the motion of the jointed cross-bars which constitute, in effect, the respective members of a transversely-disposed toggle, it being noted that the longitudinal dimensions of the bars are such in relation to the distance between the lugs 15 that the pivoted inner ends of the bars have capacity for limited vertical movement across the horizontal plane of the longitudinal axes of thepivot extensions.

By the foregoing described construction it will be seen that when the ladder 5 is in vertical position the pendant legs, by virtue of the pivotal connection of the members 10 with the sides of the ladder, tend to swing toward and parallel with the latter, and that the pivotal connection of the inner ends'of the said members at the same time, by virtue of the mounting of the pivot extensions, swing slightly upward to cause the members to occupy the upwardly converging relation seen in Fig. '1, in which case the legs lie in close parallel relation. A suitably disposed latch, 18, or other fastening,.eifective to hold the legsin closed position, is provided. When the legs are latched together, the toggle members 10 are rigidly connected, yet rotatable on their pivot extensions, thus'affording a simple hinge mounting which permits the legsto be swung outward and to constitute an inclined unitary support for the ladder.

It will also be seen thtat when the legs are unlatched and are spread apart at their lower ends, the pivotal connection of the inner ends of the toggle members swing downward to cause the members to occupy the downwardly converging relation seen in Fig. 2, whereupon the legs may be swung backward on the pivot extensions, as axes, until the legs rest upon the ground at any desired angular position.

Weight upon the ladder is transmitted through the described joint connections to the separated legs, thereby tending to draw the upper ends of the legs together until both their lower ends rest firmly on the ground.

Hence, the legs are firmly held in place until the weight is taken off the ladder and the legs are raised off the ground. The hook ends of the pivot extensions prevent their escape from the bracket irons when the legs are spread out laterally.

I claim 1. Ina step-ladder, bearing members at the sides thereof, a transverse toggle element comprising a pair of jointed members having pivot extensions loosely mounted in said bearings, and a pair of legs fixed to the res ective members of said element, said togg e members being operable to assume a relatively inclined position which permits the so legs to be swung into parallel relation and 7 moved as a unit toward or from the ladder, 4 and also being operable to assume a relatively inclined position which permits the legs to be spread apart and swung rearward from the ladder, said toggle members in the latter case tending by weight on the ladder to draw the upper ends of the legs toward each other and ensure the seating of their free ends on the ground.

0 2. In a step-ladder, brackets on the sides thereof having rearwardly projecting perforated portions, a toggle element comprising a pair of cross-bars jointed together at their innerends and provided at their outer 46 ends with pivot extensions loosely mounted in said perforated portions, and a pair of legs fixed intermediate the ends of the respective cross-bars, said cross-bars being operable to assume a relative position which permits the legs to be swung into parallel relation and moved as a unit toward and from the ladder, and also being operable to assume a relatively inclined position which permits the legs to be spread apart and swung rearward from the ladder, said cross-bars in the latter case tending by weight on the ladder to draw the upper ends of the legs toward each other and ensure the seating of their free ends on the ground.

Signed at Chico, in the county of Butte and State of California this 15th day of Novemher A. D. 1928.

LARKIN BRILES. 

